


Derek - Revisited

by zugzwangxo



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 16:15:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10494687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zugzwangxo/pseuds/zugzwangxo
Summary: I was sent a request on Tumblr to see the episode "Derek" revisited.





	

Spencer crept forward with urgency, hearing the struggle from within and fearing the worst. The darkness had covered their approach but they’d always known they were racing against an unknown, unable to predict whether or not they’d be able to get there in time. Passing through the first doorway with his gun drawn but lowered, Spencer swallowed hard, having heard the unmistakable cry of Derek’s pain a few moments before. As he drew closer to the door, there was another sound, a voice.

“Time to die,” came a low, Englishman’s voice, followed by the clicking of a gun.

Panic filled him, forcing him forward with complete disregard for his own safety as he burst through the door. A distraught and destroyed Derek Morgan looked up at the young agent, begging him to look away as the inevitable happened. Spencer’s eyes flicked left to see the tall, dark-haired man aiming his gun.

“No!” screamed Spencer, raising his revolver but the first crack of gunfire came at the cost of his best friend. Aiming down the barrel with blind rage, he saw the man turn to defend himself but unleashed a hail of rounds, pulling the trigger over and over again; all the while, crying out in emotional agony.

When the rest of the team burst through the front door, Spencer was still pulling the trigger but the gun only clicked against empty casings. JJ tugged the young man back but he was utterly inconsolable, throwing himself forward out of her grip and landing on his knees beside Derek. Searching for signs of life, Spencer ignored the small, round wound in the top corner of Derek’s forehead, desperate for him not to be dead.

Rossi had knelt beside the unknown assailant, confirming the kill without a doubt and making note of all six bullet wounds in his chest. Hotch had knelt beside the wailing Spencer, trying to pull him back but every effort was met with flailing refusal till he finally was dragged by his vest so that the medical team could do their job. Not that there was a lot they could do.

…

None of the team was talking, each of them stood silently wondering just what they could have done differently and how they were going to break the news to Penelope. Spencer was sat on the rear edge of an ambulance, covered in a foil blanket to stave off the cold while he was still in shock. Hotch wandered over to him with utter empathy in his face, unable to process it himself but knowing just how sensitive Reid would be to this but Spencer spoke first.

“I’m scared, Hotch,” he said, looking up at his superior. “I… I can’t feel anything. Hotch, I’m scared.”

“It’s normal, Reid,” he started. “And it’s easy to fall into the numbness, but you know what’s hard? Realising you weren’t there for the others that needed you.”

The pair looked up at JJ and Rossi, who were hovering on the phone call that someone had to make. Hotch’s words slowly sank in, bringing Spencer to the realisation that he was right. It had to be him, it could only be him.

Standing up slowly, he and Hotch wandered back to the others, joining together as a team once more. Spencer reached out, placing his hand on JJ’s phone and nodding to her so that she knew to release it. Each beep of the phone brought him closer and closer to the call that none of them wanted to make, but every one of them knew had to happen.

“Oh my god, why’d you guys keep me hanging,” came Penelope’s voice after a moment of ringing.

“Garcia,” said Spencer, his voice breaking as he started to feel it again.

“Spencer?” she asked, the horrid truth reaching her with a single word. “No, no you don’t. Don’t you dare…”

“Garcia, listen…” he continued. “It… we…” he broke into a sob as he heard her whimper on the other end. The pair just cried together on the phone as the other’s watched, JJ welling up and turning away after a few moments. Nothing would ever be the same between them all ever again.


End file.
